Nürburgring. In Friday’s Top Qualifying for the 24-hour race
at the Nürburgring (GER), Augusto Farfus (BRA) was the best-placed
BMW M4 GT3 driver for ROWE Racing. The Brazilian set a personal best
of 8:11.921 minutes in car #99, securing eleventh position on the
grid. Pole position went to Mercedes driver Raffaele Marciello (ITA).
Two more BMW M Motorsport drivers were represented in the decisive
second section of the individual time trial. Dan Harper (GBR) took
17th behind the wheel of car #72 for the BMW M Team RMG. Sami-Matti
Trogen (FIN) driving for Walkenhorst Motorsport, secured 19th on the
grid, equivalent to fifth place in the Pro-Am class.
Part one of the Top Qualifying was initially red-flagged due to an
accident by Christian Krognes (NOR). At the Hatzenbach section of the
track, the Walkenhorst Motorsport driver lost control of his BMW M4
GT3 on a dirty surface and hit the track barrier hard on the left
side. Krognes remained unharmed. The individual time trial was
restarted after the necessary clean up, however, no additional BMW
drivers were able to secure a spot in the second part of Top Qualifying.
In the highly competitive SP10 class, FK Performance Motorsport will
start from second position in car #86. The Giti Tire Motorsport by WS
Racing team secured pole in the SP8T class with the #81 BMW M4 GT4.
Due to a penalty, the BMW M4 GT4 media car will start from the pit
lane in its group. A total of six new BMW M4 GT4 cars are
participating in the race.
The 51st edition of the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring will go green
on Saturday at 16:00hrs (CEST).
Reactions on Top Qualifying.
Augusto Farfus (#99 BMW M4 GT3, ROWE Racing, 11th
place): “I think we did what we could. My car was good and
felt extremely well-balanced. So, I’m quite happy I managed to put the
lap together. It’s important to be in the mix at the front, P11 is not
too bad. It’s a long race ahead.”
Dan Harper (#72 BMW M4 GT3, BMW M Team RMG, 17th
place): “It wasn’t the best session for us, but it’s a long
24-hour race ahead. Of course, it is nice to be as high up on the grid
as possible, but in the end the grid position doesn’t matter too much.
We have a good race car that is handling very well, which is important
in the race.”
Sami-Matti Trogen (#100 BMW M4 GT3, Walkenhorst Motorsport,
19th place): “It was quite tough. There was a lot of dirt
on the track, but I managed to get through. It was a bit tricky to
make the tyres work. They were overheating a bit, but the rest was
okay. We are ready for the long race over the weekend. Our goal is to
finish and be the best-placed Pro-Am car.”
Jesse Krohn (#101 BMW M4 GT3, Walkenhorst
Motorsport): “I’m really disappointed for myself but also for
the team. The guys worked extra hard yesterday to fix the issues that
we had with the balance, and today the cars were flawless. My first
run in Q1 felt mega good. No issues. But then the second one, after
hearing my team-mate had crashed and that there was a lot of dirt on
the track, I just needed to make sure that we didn’t have two cars in
the same condition. I’m sure that our race car is going to be much
better than our one-lap pace. Sunday is what matters. And I’m really
sure that we can we can do well.”
Sheldon van der Linde (#98 BMW M4 GT3, ROWE Racing):
“Obviously we’re all super on the limit for this one lap. We try and
put everything into the lap to try and get into Q2, as was obviously
my job today. We knew it was going to be tied with everyone, as the
field is so close together. I gave it everything – maybe a bit too
much. In Pflanzgarten I, I lost the rear and kissed the wall on the
outside. Luckily the car is not damaged too much, just a mirror.
Still, that’s not a great feeling to start from P33, but everything’s
open, and we need to fight in the race.”
Christian Krognes (#102 BMW M4 GT3, Walkenhorst Motorsport):
“I am okay. It was a sudden and rather surprising crash. I
suddenly lost traction on the front axle, in a very unexpected moment.
I just skidded off. It was a moment you wouldn’t want to experience
during the top qualifying, but it happened. I am deeply sorry for the
entire team, but I know that we have an amazing team of mechanics who
will try to fix the car overnight. I hope it’s possible. If anyone can
fix it, they are the ones to do it.”
